However, even basic counselling is not always provided - some
individuals order and receive test results by email or over a web site, he
said.

"Vital information is being delivered to people without very much
thought about how it is going to affect them," he said.

Counselling

Rebecca Webster, a counsellor for private paternity testing company DNA
Bioscience, who speaks to about 500 men each month about such decisions,
said: "We will raise the issue about whether they have thought about
the consequences both for them and all those involved.

"Very often they are quite distressed and they want someone to
talk to.

"By the time they get the results a lot of people have prepared
themselves. But it's a very emotional process, even if the result is the
one they wanted.

"In an ideal world, everyone should have counselling and it should
be available on the NHS. Unfortunately, it's not."

Adrienne Burgess of Fathers Direct called for a code of practice to
ensure companies providing paternity tests also offer counselling.

The NSPCC said fathers who find out they have been raising another
man's child should remember that however angry they feel, they should not
take this out on the child in any way.

"The child will still regard the parent as their father. Rejection
could be a devastating double blow for the child, " said a
spokeswoman.